Butterflies
by Honor Reid
Summary: Valerie takes a detour through Rudy's lab and something catches her eye. (Rudy/Valerie)


**A/N:** This story takes place a few years after the series finale.

This was written for the comm **older_not_dead**. Also **stories_a_z** prompt B. Many, many thanks to my two awesome betas for this story FriendsWithTheMonster and raktajinos.

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Quickly ducking into a stairwell to avoid her ex, Valerie leaned against the gray cinderblock wall until the brown-haired man had past. After the day she's had the last thing she needed was a run-in with Jake. Every time that had happened it ended badly for everyone involved. She waited a couple of minutes before breathing a sigh of relief at the near miss. Valerie grabbed the door handle to let herself back into the lobby only to realize that she was now locked out. Letting out a growl of frustration, the Detective rolled her eyes at her own stupidity before going down the stairs towards the basement where she could find her way out.

She was very thankful to find the door was unlocked. With a sigh of relief, Valerie walked into the lab, which housed Rudy's workstations. Seeing Dorian's old charging station brought back memories of a time when John, Dorian, and Captain Maldonado still worked at the precinct.

The Captain had been promoted to Chief, John Kennex and his partner, who were still firmly attached at the hip, had transferred to a new station across town. Detective Paul and her had even called a truce a few years back and were essentially partners now.

She didn't see Rudy currently, only some computers and spare microprocessors. Walking across the room towards the elevator Valerie was stopped by a glimmer that she saw out of the corner of her eye. Moving towards the workstation Valerie saw it was an artificial butterfly. It was so realistic the only reason she had been able to tell it was a replica was the thorax was open revealing an intricate center of electronics. The wings was what had caught her attention, they were a translucent blue color, the outer edge framed in black, she watched as the glimmer that had caught her eye started at the center of the wing and slowly spread outwards. Drawn almost unconsciously forward Valerie reached out her hand to touch the glistening wing.

"Detective Stahl, please don't touch that!" A strident voice said directly behind her.

Valerie jumped away from the insect; her hand automatically came up to rest on her weapon before she realized who was addressing her. Turning around she saw Rudy striding forward a panicked look on his face. Feeling herself blush at getting caught being nosy, Valerie relaxed her stance and stepped aside to allow the lanky man to check on his work.

"It is very delicate, the wings are whisper thin," Rudy said his hands fluttering around the fragile creation.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean any harm," Valerie said quickly hoping to calm the slender man's frantic movements, "Please call me Valerie." She cautiously moved a bit closer, her voice filled with awe as she spoke once more. "It is just so beautiful, I almost couldn't help myself."

Rudy stopped and stood up from his hunched position, he was taken aback by Detective Stahl's statement. The few people he encountered down in his sanctuary usually just walked by without giving it a second look, and quickly dismissed him whenever he tried to talk about them.

"Thank you Detective Sta..," Rudy paused, catching her warning look and correcting himself, "Valerie."

He swallowed nervously; he rarely had a chance to talk to others about his passion of combining the beauty of butterflies with the elegance of circuitry.

"Did you make it yourself?" Valerie asked stepping closer once again as her curiosity getting the better of her intention to leave in order to get something to eat.

Rudy answered, "Yes I did. I based it on the Blue Morpho Butterfly."

Valerie looked up and said, "I've never heard of it."

Seeing that the Detective was genuinely interested Rudy continued, "It became extinct about twenty years ago. I find insects very fascinating creatures but the Blue Morpho Butterfly is my favorite."

Spying another butterfly, this one with lovely green wings on the next table, Valerie asked, "And that one?" as she moved nearer for a better look.

"That is the Goliath Birdwing Butterfly, it is indigenous to Indonesia," Rudy stated, starting to get warmed up to the subject, now that he had someone interested in one of his one of his creations. "It is the second largest butterfly."

"What's the largest one?" Valerie asked genuinely curious, she had never really thought too much about butterflies, but seeing how beautiful they could be up close she wanted to know more.

Looking over at Rudy as he told her about the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing butterfly, she was amazed at how animated he was, his face lit up with excitement. It lent him a certain charisma. She smiled in response to his enthusiasm, following behind him as he led her to a third table, which housed two more butterflies.

When Rudy turned and saw her smile, his insecurities returned and made him pause, "I'm sorry. I am probably boring you," he offered up guardedly as some of the eagerness left his voice.

Valerie desperately wanted to reassure him, so she laid a hand on his arm and said, "It is fascinating really. What's this one?" Pointing to one on an adjacent table, it seemed to have smaller wings then the rest.

The Detective waited and held her breath hoping he would continue. She didn't look at her motive too carefully but it was really important for her to hear that curl of excitement in his voice again.

Looking into the Detective's eyes, Rudy tried to see if she was sincere or not, she seemed to be so he gave her a smile in return. As he turned back to his workbench she removed her hand from his arm, but he could still feel the lingering heat of her touch through his shirt sleeve.

Clearing his throat Rudy nervously continued, "It is the Short-Horned Barona, quite rare actually."

Valerie leaned in for a closer look and made a mental note that it wasn't as flashy as some of the others, instead, this one was brown with white markings, the pattern was though, was quite remarkable. Straightening up she realized, now that she knew what to look for, that there were a least a dozen butterflies resting on various tables and benches strewn about the lab.

Rudy watched as Detective Stahl's eyes go around the room and rest on each butterfly. In a hesitant yet animated voice, Rudy asked, "Would you like to see them fly?" He had never shown anyone what they could do but something about the way Valerie was looking at them, the way she was looking at him, that made him want to show her.

"I would love to," Valerie nodded, the delight evident in her voice.

Rudy felt a wide smile spread across his face as he grabbed the tablet that controlled his creations. Valerie watched as his fingers flew across the screen until they suddenly stopped and Rudy looked up. She gasped slightly when the first butterfly fluttered the tiniest little bit, almost as though a soft breeze had hit its wings.

Watching as it gently lifted off the table its wings effortless pulling it through the air, almost as if by magic; Valerie turned and watched as each one lifted off until they were all in flight. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, they were the epitome of grace drifting on an electronic breeze as they danced around the room.

Spinning slowly in a circle in order to take it all in Valerie dropped her voice down to a whisper, "It is so beautiful, Rudy."

Rudy wasn't watching the aerial dance around them; he found he couldn't take his eyes off of Valerie. She had a look of being completely enraptured, and almost in spite of himself he said out loud, "So lovely."

Valerie turned around and saw he wasn't looking at the swarm of butterflies above them his attention was on her. For a moment they simply stared at each other, time slowing as a small spark sprung to life between them, fragile and delicate just waiting for tinder to feed it.

Valerie felt her breath quickening the longer they held each other's gaze and a sort of fluttering feeling, similar to that of the butterflies around her, taking place in her stomach. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one butterfly dip close to the ground and shouted a warning, "Rudy!"

Momentarily startled out of the spell he had been under; Rudy quickly hit the return button on his tablet and watched as each butterfly went back to its charging station. All except the Blue Morpho, that one he kept aloft and asked, "Valerie, could you hold out your hand for me?"

Smiling her acquiescence, Valerie cupped her hands out in front of her and watched in amazement as the butterfly circled around her. She barely felt the weight of it as it landed, the wings brushing against her fingers lightly as it fluttered to a stop in the palm of her hand. She knew she must be grinning like an idiot but she couldn't help it, there was a sense of wonder about the whole experience that Valerie couldn't put into words.

Gently, and oh so carefully she walked over to the original workstation and placed the electronic insect on its pedestal.

Turning around and meeting his eyes once again, Valerie said softly, "Thank you Rudy that was wonderful."

Blushing Rudy stammered out a "You're welcome," then he watched her move towards the hallway.

He reached out his hand and opened his mouth to say something, anything to keep her from leaving but the words seemed stuck in his throat. Seeing her turn the corner Rudy dropped his hand and silently started calling himself all kinds of names for being such a coward, for not asking her to stay, or go have a cup of coffee, or to take a walk… or something, rather then just standing there.

Disgusted with himself he quickly walked back to his desk, sitting down heavily in his chair as he powered down his work computer and got ready to leave, his mind elsewhere.

Rounding the corner, Valerie stood in front of the elevator waiting for it to descend, getting in once it had arrived; Valerie absentmindedly rocked from side to side. As the elevator started to climb Valerie continued to be lost in thought as she played over in her mind the butterflies and the conversation she had had with Rudy. She found she kept coming back to the way Rudy looked as he explained what kind of butterfly each one was and how his creations worked; he had passion in his voice and a light in his eyes that she hadn't noticed before.

Stepping out into the lobby, Valerie stopped, changed her mind and stepped back into the elevator.

Hat in hand, Rudy was still kicking himself, when the lift doors opened to revel the Detective that was ever present in his mind. Rudy stammered out, "Valerie," in surprise.

Now that she was staring Rudy in the face she felt some of the courage that led to her impulsive decision to come back down, leave her just a bit. Feeling very nervous, Valerie blurted out, "I'm done working for the day. Do you want to get a bite to eat at the diner down the street?"

Looking stunned, Rudy managed to spit out a, "Yes, I would love to," wincing a bit at the desperation in his voice. He took a step forward before stopping and nervously asking, "Now do you mean as two co-workers leaving together in order to have some company as they eat, in a strictly platonic way? Or do you mean as two people who enjoy each others company in a more personal way…" His voice trailing off as Valerie started to smile.

Thinking to herself how adorable he was when he was nervous, Valerie said, "I mean the second one."

"Oh…all right," Rudy said satisfaction evident in his voice. He placed his fedora on his head and stepped in. Turning smartly, Rudy crooked out his arm, Valerie stepped closer and threaded her arm through his, before leaning in and whispering, "I like your hat."

Now it was Rudy's turn to smile as the doors closed, and the elevator ascended.

**The End.**


End file.
